The Sombre Reunion

The Sombre Reunion is a short story that acts the fifth installment for Circle of Magie, a series of stories centered on various sorcerers who live in the fantastical land of Oliviani, based on the nation of Belgium at the turn of the 19th century. Taking place just a scant few weeks since the bombing in the crowded streets of Leuven, Marcel Recker travels south to Stavelot to try and clear his rattled mind while meeting Felicity Pavona and Agnés Robben. Neither of the two, however, are anywhere to be found, and as Marcel ventures through town to try and locate any trace of them in the hopes of mending his mind, he ends up meeting both new and familiar faces that drag him into yet another critical event for the land.

The Sombre Reunion can be read here as a series of PDFs.

Complete
    Part 1
    Part 2
    Part 3
    Part 4 

The above postcard is that of the real-life city of Vielsalm, a town within the province of Luxembourg in southern Belgium, within Wallonia. A small French-speaking town with a small population, I found the postcard again evokes the idea of the rural and cozy fictional town of Stavelot, especially its lush countryside that Sinclair calls home. 

This was an interesting story to write. While I initially intended it as "only" a re-alignment story after what happened in the previous instalment, especially with the absence of both Tanneke Daamen and Agnés Robben, I found a lot of an overarching plot start to fall into place as I brainstormed and outlined this story, complete with throwing in old concepts that haven't been mentioned for a while. I'm not sure if it's been mentioned before, but what was intended to start as a mere one-shot has become its own series, and I will admit that I myself have been blindsided by many of the developments that have sprung up as a result.